We haven't officially started planning yet as buying a house put that on hold, but God help me. My fiance's parents are divorced and both have been remarried for 10+ years.......so of course that means we have FOUR freaking families to deal with on her side alone.

Right now, we're putting $1,000 a month away in savings. I do not want to go into debt over a wedding. It's stretching us awful thin when it comes to wanting new clothes, new decor for the house, etc... but it needs done. If we're able to keep it up, we'll have almost $20k by the time the wedding rolls around. I hope thats enough for almost everything, including the honeymoon.

We planned out our wedding for about 150 people. We booked a venue, made a guest list and then totally changed our minds. We did 30 or so people. Just immediate family/grandparents and close friends. We didn't get any real flack from anyone and only spent a few grand on everything. It was a great decision.

Im starting to look for honeymoon spots.. anyone with suggestions? Looking at probably ~$5k budget, with airfare... also, what is the best credit card to rack up airline miles? I want to pay with a credit card to get points for anything and everything possible.

mac5155 wrote:Im starting to look for honeymoon spots.. anyone with suggestions? Looking at probably ~$5k budget, with airfare... also, what is the best credit card to rack up airline miles? I want to pay with a credit card to get points for anything and everything possible.

Book directly through their website. Mention that you are on a honeymoon, and the hotel manager will make you a deal: an room upgrade + "all you can eat breakfasts for 2 + lavish 4-course dinners for 2 (think **** restaurant quality IMO) for ~$2,000 per week.

Murren is "the place" to stay in that part of alps. The great LGP poster "shmenguin" (who's awesome advice I followed) posted some kick-ass pictures in various threads on LGP:

I also believe there is a special "honeymoon" thread somewhere in NHR.

Credit cards:

Outside of the US, you pretty much should use ONLY CapitalOne. That's one of the very few companies that would not charge you 3% currency conversion fee. Consider that getting a 3% cash back whenever you use the card. So, if you are interested in miles - get whavever Alec Baldwin is pitching (CapitalOne Venture?)

Last edited by Tomas on Tue Jul 31, 2012 12:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.

mac5155 wrote:Right now, we're putting $1,000 a month away in savings. I do not want to go into debt over a wedding. It's stretching us awful thin when it comes to wanting new clothes, new decor for the house, etc... but it needs done. If we're able to keep it up, we'll have almost $20k by the time the wedding rolls around. I hope thats enough for almost everything, including the honeymoon.

My wife and I paid for most of our wedding and kept it in the $20-25K range.

We thought we were stretching, until you open up your gifts the next day, and we found out the cash gifts paid for our wedding and we pretty much broke even.

mac5155 wrote:Im starting to look for honeymoon spots.. anyone with suggestions? Looking at probably ~$5k budget, with airfare... also, what is the best credit card to rack up airline miles? I want to pay with a credit card to get points for anything and everything possible.

Not sure what you are into for a honeymoon, but if you go to a caribbean type or beach vacation and are planning on staying at a resort, buck up and get the all inclusive. In the end, it actually saves you money if you like to drink, and you don't have to worry about carrying around money.

mac5155 wrote:Right now, we're putting $1,000 a month away in savings. I do not want to go into debt over a wedding. It's stretching us awful thin when it comes to wanting new clothes, new decor for the house, etc... but it needs done. If we're able to keep it up, we'll have almost $20k by the time the wedding rolls around. I hope thats enough for almost everything, including the honeymoon.

My wife and I paid for most of our wedding and kept it in the $20-25K range.

We thought we were stretching, until you open up your gifts the next day, and we found out the cash gifts paid for our wedding and we pretty much broke even.

This is what I am hoping happens. Not counting on it, but it sure would be nice to pretty much get all that savings back. I'd be happy with half of it back. We'd really love to start house shopping after it's over and paid off.

mac5155 wrote:This is what I am hoping happens. Not counting on it, but it sure would be nice to pretty much get all that savings back. I'd be happy with half of it back. We'd really love to start house shopping after it's over and paid off.

You should definitely make at least half back. We got a nice gift from my parents that helped take a decent chunk out, but even w/o that, we would have had about 65-70% of the wedding paid for just from the other gifts.

The key is, hope everyone brings an envenlope and not other types of gifts. It makes it easier to take everything home that night and it pays for the evening.

Tomas wrote:Murren is "the place" to stay in that part of alps. The great LGP poster "shmenguin" (who's awesome advice I followed) posted some kick-ass pictures in various threads on LGP:

thanks, tomas

yeah...murren is nothing short of incredible. but you gotta be willing to do some hiking to get the most out of it. while we're on europe...one of the other places i went to on the h-moon was monterosso (italian riviera). this is kind of the best of both worlds...it has a nice beach for relaxing and hiking for some adventure. plus it had the best food i've ever eaten. period. and the cool thing about italy is the food is really cheap - as opposed to switzerland where it's seriously expensive.

some pics i took (a couple of them from my hotel room's balcony)...

Spoiler:

we spent a lot of money on the trip, but i'm glad we went all out and went to some interesting places.

mac5155 wrote:Im starting to look for honeymoon spots.. anyone with suggestions? Looking at probably ~$5k budget, with airfare... also, what is the best credit card to rack up airline miles? I want to pay with a credit card to get points for anything and everything possible.

Just got back from Turks and Caicos and it was stellar. If you want all inclusive I'd recommended the Beaches resort right next to where we stayed at the Royal West Indies. Our stay ended up being about $2000 a person. All inclusive is good if you just want to eat/drink at the resort, which you can do. If you do SCUBA, snorkeling, etc. you're most likely going to have to pay extra. We didn't do all inclusive and don't really regret it.

Then I'd go for that. Getting smashed all day sounds great, but you gotta take advantage of the islands. My old lady schedule our vacay. I didn't wanted hassled with anything except how much I owed her and when I needed to show up drunk at the airport. That said, I know she looked at St. Lucia, but decided on Turks and Caicos. That also said, everyone we met had been to many tropical destinations, and we were easily the poorest people on the island (it seemed). They all said Turks and Caicos was the best.

But I've never been anywhere else like that so I have nothing to compare it to.

Yeah I mean if I want to lay on a beach and get smashed i'll go to OCMD. I want to relax with a drink in my hand, maybe one day go scuba, one day go hiking, one day go boating, etc. Sandals looks like our best bet, especially for all inclusive.

OK, if you like the "all-inclusive" concept, check the "Couples" resorts in Jamaica. Truly all-inclusive - all premium liquors, no limits on restaurants of any kind, all watersports, snorkelling, scuba, sailing, waterski, tennis, horseriding... included. There are several resorts, ours was "Tower Isle" near Ocho Rios. From there, you can also book a tour to Blue Mountains, etc. Also plus for honeymooners - no kids allowed.

Now, the stay in the decadent, but artificial Couples paradise taught me how I haaaate all-inclusive resorts. So, if you want to call your own shots and not stay behind high walls separated from the "real" country (which in case of Jamaica is not exactly safe), and want to move freely in a country where services work almost flawlessly, and nobody will ever bug you - I can't stress enough how awesome Costa Rica is. We stayed here : http://www.lostiguanaresort.com/navegad ... g/home.php (once again, much better "honeymoon" deals if you order directly through the website) and here: http://www.pacificsouss.com/ . The northwest part of the country has apparently even better beaches.

Since it will be my first time outside of the US I am thinking I'd rather have everyone tell me what to do and where to go.. then maybe, a return trip we could do something like you outlined above in regards to exploring on our own. Thank you for the continued suggestions, though!

mac5155 wrote:Since it will be my first time outside of the US I am thinking I'd rather have everyone tell me what to do and where to go.. then maybe, a return trip we could do something like you outlined above in regards to exploring on our own. Thank you for the continued suggestions, though!

No problem. Just for the sake of full disclosure, to point how great Costa Rica is (and to continue my "Friends, don't let friends go to all-inclusive resorts ). I do not speak any Spanish (not that I am proud of it) - it was never any problem. (Incidentally, I also got by in Switzerland without knowing any German beyond like 50 words).